NEBRASKA- Abdullah Lami lost nights of sleep as he watched the news coming out of Afghanistan. Thinking of his family and friends who are still there was “like a nightmare.”

Afghans are scrambling to find ways to escape after the Taliban overran their country.

Lami, a caseworker with the Omaha-based Refugee Empowerment Center, is eagerly waiting to help Afghan refugees who may enter the state. And he can relate — he came to Omaha as a refugee five years ago.

Many area refugee resettlement agencies are staffed and ready to accept Afghans who are fleeing the country. But local officials and federal leaders caution that it could be a lengthy process before any fleeing Afghans arrive in Nebraska.

“Our team is ready and we’re excited to start welcoming people,” said Amanda Kohler, Refugee Empowerment Center’s executive director. The organization doesn’t yet know how many Afghans it will be able to help resettle in Nebraska.

The number of refugees allowed to enter the United States each year is set at the federal level by the president. Under Barack Obama, the cap was 110,000. Donald Trump dropped the cap to 50,000 through an executive order when he took office in 2017. Under the Trump administration, the number continued to drop until hitting an all-time low of 15,000.

“The hard part right now, there is a will from the federal government to resettle, but the systems have been dismantled,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot of effort across the country and the world really to get that machine back in order.”

Thousands of Afghan nationals also are attempting to leave the country. Many of those individuals hold special immigrant visas, which show that they worked for the U.S. government. They, along with their relatives, are considered at risk of reprisal from Taliban soldiers.

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